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UK 17th as Austria wins Eurovision

The UK's drought of Eurovision Song Contest victories continues after the nation's entry again fell well short of the top spot.

Despite optimism of a strong showing in this year's competition, former shop assistant Molly Smitten-Downes could only place 17th with Austria's "bearded lady" Conchita Wurst finishing the clear winner.

Smitten-Downes had been among those tipped to place highly with self-penned song Children Of The Universe and wowed a lively audience in this year's host city of Copenhagen.

If she had managed to win, it would have been the first British entry to do so since Katrina and the Waves came top of the leaderboard in 1997 with Love Shine a Light.

But it was not to be for the 27-year-old singer-songwriter on the night.

It is estimated the competition was watched by 180 million viewers across 45 countries.

After securing her victory, Conchita said: "This award is dedicated to everybody who believes in a world of peace and freedom.

"You know who you are - we are unity and we are unstoppable."eurov

As the voting began, Smitten-Downes opened her account with five points from the principality of San Marino, and continued scoring steadily throughout before eventually finishing on 40.

Despite the loss, her performance will go some way to easing memories of Britain's poor run of form in the competition in recent years, with dire scoring condemning both Engelbert Humperdinck in 2012 and last year Bonnie Tyler to the bottom end of the voting table.

On the night the talented songstress, who was the last act to perform, faced off against other strong pre-competition favourites Sanna Nielsen representing Sweden, The Netherlands and Austrian drag artist Conchita.

Conchita elicited huge cheers from the crowd as she took the stage in a fitted gown, and her trademark facial hair, before delivering an accomplished performance of her song Rise Like A Phoenix.

She went on to secure her victory with three rounds to spare eventually accumulating 290 points.

Sweden finished third with 218 points, behind second placed Dutch act The Common Linnets who totted up 238 points.

I heard the song and the long interview that went with it complete utter load of rubbish. Rabbited on about being respected as a songwriter, performer and composer. Another one of these BRIT/FAME academy luvvies that has got in through the back door. It is very much like that old Kit Kat advert. Cant sing, you cant dance, you look awful, you will do well. The days when the beeb used to audition for Euro seems to be out of the window. Its the same with the Bond theme movie selection, know-one gets a look in now unless you are an established artist.

I heard the song and the long interview that went with it complete utter load of rubbish. Rabbited on about being respected as a songwriter, performer and composer. Another one of these BRIT/FAME academy luvvies that has got in through the back door. It is very much like that old Kit Kat advert. Cant sing, you cant dance, you look awful, you will do well. The days when the beeb used to audition for Euro seems to be out of the window. Its the same with the Bond theme movie selection, know-one gets a look in now unless you are an established artist.A Very Private Gentleman

I heard the song and the long interview that went with it complete utter load of rubbish. Rabbited on about being respected as a songwriter, performer and composer. Another one of these BRIT/FAME academy luvvies that has got in through the back door. It is very much like that old Kit Kat advert. Cant sing, you cant dance, you look awful, you will do well. The days when the beeb used to audition for Euro seems to be out of the window. Its the same with the Bond theme movie selection, know-one gets a look in now unless you are an established artist.

Score: 1

skeptik
9:16am Sat 10 May 14

Is it the case that the punishment for winning is you have to stage the next one?

Is it the case that the punishment for winning is you have to stage the next one?skeptik

Is it the case that the punishment for winning is you have to stage the next one?

Score: 1

Katie Re-Registered
10:11am Sat 10 May 14

C'mon Austria! I really want Conchita Wurst to win as she identifies as gender neutral and this will, hopefully, be a positive way to put people who conform outside of the gender binary on the map!

C'mon Austria! I really want Conchita Wurst to win as she identifies as gender neutral and this will, hopefully, be a positive way to put people who conform outside of the gender binary on the map!Katie Re-Registered

C'mon Austria! I really want Conchita Wurst to win as she identifies as gender neutral and this will, hopefully, be a positive way to put people who conform outside of the gender binary on the map!

Score: -9

trolley
1:07pm Sat 10 May 14

Katie Re-Registered wrote…

C'mon Austria! I really want Conchita Wurst to win as she identifies as gender neutral and this will, hopefully, be a positive way to put people who conform outside of the gender binary on the map!

That makes little sense,i prefer the description it looks absolutely ridiculous and its voice is really annoying

[quote][p][bold]Katie Re-Registered[/bold] wrote:
C'mon Austria! I really want Conchita Wurst to win as she identifies as gender neutral and this will, hopefully, be a positive way to put people who conform outside of the gender binary on the map![/p][/quote]That makes little sense,i prefer the description it looks absolutely ridiculous and its voice is really annoyingtrolley

Katie Re-Registered wrote…

C'mon Austria! I really want Conchita Wurst to win as she identifies as gender neutral and this will, hopefully, be a positive way to put people who conform outside of the gender binary on the map!

That makes little sense,i prefer the description it looks absolutely ridiculous and its voice is really annoying

Actually, according to the Wikipedia entry on her, Conchita identifies as gender neutral, but well done to the SWA for using the female pronoun (which see seems to prefer) - definitely an improvement on the "bloke in a dress" description they were giving of her 48 hours' ago. I'm not exactly sure why so much of the British media automatically seems to be billing her as 'the bearded lady" though - maybe it has something to do with the backward Victorian circus mentality of the British press, perhaps?

Although it's all a bit of fun, I'm hoping that this year's Eurovision victory will do for gender non-conforming people what Dana International's 1998 victory did to raise the profile of transsexual women. Conchita certainly had to put up with a lot of transphobia in the run up to Eurovision; enduring deeply hurtful insults and even calls from extremist religious fundamentalist groups and insane Putin lackeys for her to be banned.

Anyhow, message to all those bigots out there: y'all woke up with egg on your faces this morning, didn't ya...? Conchita: 100+ pointe. Transphobes: Nul Pointe:)

Actually, according to the Wikipedia entry on her, Conchita identifies as gender neutral, but well done to the SWA for using the female pronoun (which see seems to prefer) - definitely an improvement on the "bloke in a dress" description they were giving of her 48 hours' ago. I'm not exactly sure why so much of the British media automatically seems to be billing her as 'the bearded lady" though - maybe it has something to do with the backward Victorian circus mentality of the British press, perhaps?
Although it's all a bit of fun, I'm hoping that this year's Eurovision victory will do for gender non-conforming people what Dana International's 1998 victory did to raise the profile of transsexual women. Conchita certainly had to put up with a lot of transphobia in the run up to Eurovision; enduring deeply hurtful insults and even calls from extremist religious fundamentalist groups and insane Putin lackeys for her to be banned.
Anyhow, message to all those bigots out there: y'all woke up with egg on your faces this morning, didn't ya...? Conchita: 100+ pointe. Transphobes: Nul Pointe:)Katie Re-Registered

Actually, according to the Wikipedia entry on her, Conchita identifies as gender neutral, but well done to the SWA for using the female pronoun (which see seems to prefer) - definitely an improvement on the "bloke in a dress" description they were giving of her 48 hours' ago. I'm not exactly sure why so much of the British media automatically seems to be billing her as 'the bearded lady" though - maybe it has something to do with the backward Victorian circus mentality of the British press, perhaps?

Although it's all a bit of fun, I'm hoping that this year's Eurovision victory will do for gender non-conforming people what Dana International's 1998 victory did to raise the profile of transsexual women. Conchita certainly had to put up with a lot of transphobia in the run up to Eurovision; enduring deeply hurtful insults and even calls from extremist religious fundamentalist groups and insane Putin lackeys for her to be banned.

Anyhow, message to all those bigots out there: y'all woke up with egg on your faces this morning, didn't ya...? Conchita: 100+ pointe. Transphobes: Nul Pointe:)

Score: -1

Mervyn James
11:27am Sun 11 May 14

When bearded weirdies wearing dresses win the European shows, high time we got the hell out.... anyone who has ANY doubts as to why we should leave the european set up, had their answers there ! What bunch of strange and dysfunctional untalented losers they all are...

When bearded weirdies wearing dresses win the European shows, high time we got the hell out.... anyone who has ANY doubts as to why we should leave the european set up, had their answers there ! What bunch of strange and dysfunctional untalented losers they all are...Mervyn James

When bearded weirdies wearing dresses win the European shows, high time we got the hell out.... anyone who has ANY doubts as to why we should leave the european set up, had their answers there ! What bunch of strange and dysfunctional untalented losers they all are...

Score: 0

Voice of Reason & U Know It
11:35pm Sun 11 May 14

Oh dear! More ammo to feed the bigoted UKIP supporters hate of anyone or anything different to themselves. I feel however the joke is on the UKIP-ites because the transvestite Conchita Wurst will be remembered for a long time as the winner of a meaningless circus whereas Farage wont even be remembered albeit with his policies and party members he is running a far more ridiculous circus than the European Song Contest.

Oh dear! More ammo to feed the bigoted UKIP supporters hate of anyone or anything different to themselves. I feel however the joke is on the UKIP-ites because the transvestite Conchita Wurst will be remembered for a long time as the winner of a meaningless circus whereas Farage wont even be remembered albeit with his policies and party members he is running a far more ridiculous circus than the European Song Contest.Voice of Reason & U Know It

Oh dear! More ammo to feed the bigoted UKIP supporters hate of anyone or anything different to themselves. I feel however the joke is on the UKIP-ites because the transvestite Conchita Wurst will be remembered for a long time as the winner of a meaningless circus whereas Farage wont even be remembered albeit with his policies and party members he is running a far more ridiculous circus than the European Song Contest.

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